St. Paul Hmong Mennonite Church (St. Paul, Minnesota, USA)
The first Hmong Mennonite church in the Twin Cities (St. Paul, Minnesota, USA) began in 1993 and existed until 2002. Pastor Tong Hang (Tooj Haam) led this outreach. The United Hmong Mennonite Church met in the Arlington Hills Lutheran Church on Greenbrier Street in St. Paul. None of its members became part of the new Hmong congregation that began in 2004.
In November of 2003, Pastor Neng Chue Vang (better known as Pastor Chue Vang) and his family moved from Denver, Colorado to St. Paul to re-establish the Hmong Mennonite church, under the name Hmong Mennonite Church of St. Paul.
Pastor Neng Chue began as the new church’s pastor in January 2004. The congregation started with four families and held its worship services in the Neng Chue home for about two months. It then transitioned into a shared building space at Trinity Church on Hamline Avenue after it had a total of 10 families. It worshiped there for about four years before relocating to another shared building with a Hmong Methodist Church. After a year of worship there, they relocated to building space at the Woodland Hills Church, where it has met Sunday afternoons.
In Spring 2010, Pastor Chong Xeng Thao (better known as Pastor Xeng or Pastor Pornchai Thosaengsiri) came from Thailand to teach at the Hmong Mennonite Women’s Retreat in St. Paul, Minnesota. In April 2012, Pastor Xeng and his wife served in an internship at the Hmong Mennonite Church of St. Paul for about six months and then returned to Thailand in order to complete his Biblical theology degree.
At the beginning of 2013, Pastor Neng Chue announced that he was retiring. The church board decided to sponsor Pastor Xeng and his family from Thailand to become the pastor of the church. During the time without a pastor in the church, some members left and moved elsewhere.
In September 2014, Pastor Xeng, his wife, and three children arrived in the United States and began his pastoral work at the church. At that time, the church only had about 12 families. In January 2015, the church changed its name to St. Paul Hmong Mennonite Church. In 2023, the church had about 23 active families. The worship services continued to be in the Hmong language.
In 2023 the congregation was part of the Central Plains Conference of Mennonite Church USA.
Bibliography
Mennonite Yearbook (1995-2009)
Additional Information
Meeting Address: Woodland Hills Church, Door C, 1740 Van Dyke St., St. Paul, Minnesota 55109
Phone:
Website: https://www.facebook.com/HmongMennonite/
Denominational Affiliations: Central Plains Mennonite Conference
Pastoral Leaders at St. Paul Hmong Mennonite Church
| Name | Years of Service |
|---|---|
| Tong Hang | 1993-2002 |
| Neng Chue Vang | 2004-2013 |
| Xeng P. Thosaengsiri | 2015- |
Membership at St. Paul Hmong Mennonite Church
| Year | Membership |
|---|---|
| 2000 | 42 |
| 2009 | 57 |
| 2020 | 71 |
| Author(s) | Mai Yang |
|---|---|
| Date Published | May 2023 |
Cite This Article
MLA style
Yang, Mai. "St. Paul Hmong Mennonite Church (St. Paul, Minnesota, USA)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. May 2023. Web. 24 Apr 2024. https://gameo.org/index.php?title=St._Paul_Hmong_Mennonite_Church_(St._Paul,_Minnesota,_USA)&oldid=175503.
APA style
Yang, Mai. (May 2023). St. Paul Hmong Mennonite Church (St. Paul, Minnesota, USA). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 24 April 2024, from https://gameo.org/index.php?title=St._Paul_Hmong_Mennonite_Church_(St._Paul,_Minnesota,_USA)&oldid=175503.
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